Hotel-room rack.



No. 878,554. PATENTED FEB. 11,1908. P. MUSGHENHBIM. HOTEL ROOM RACK.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7, 1907- 8 1 Mums. FIELD 9 9 wmmmz 90 MISMLHALL 1 91 91 9 WILLIAM DAY 0 95 1n: NORRIS FSTIR: co. wuwnmawu, 04 c,

UNITED STATES FREDERICK MUSOHENHEIM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HOTEL-ROOM RACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1908.

Application filed September 7. 1907. Serial No. 891-823.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK MUsonEN- HEIM, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Hotel-Room Racks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a rack of compact construction by which a hotel clerk can quickly ascertain the condition of each of the rooms, such as whether empty or occupied, name of guest, date of arrival, etc.

In the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved hotel room rack; Fig. 2 a horizontal section on line 22, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a detail vertical section through a series of superposed card holders, and Fig. 4 a perspective view of a pair of horizontally alined card holders.

The rack consists essentially of an upright frame a, provided with a series of spaced vertical pivots b, that are journaled in the top and bottom rail thereof. Upon each pivot b, are rigidly mounted a series of card holders 0, arranged vertically below each other and provided with a top flange (Z, and a bottom flange 6, the former being preferably somewhat shorter than the latter. Each card holder is secured to its pivot b, at the center, and its length is such that it extends within a short distance of each of the pivots to the right and left of its own pivot, it being therefore longer than the distance between any two adjoining pivots. The result of this construction is that when the rack is closed, each card holder will be partly overlapped by the holder flanking it on one side, and will, in turn, overla the holder flanking it on the other side. I this way frame a, will contain nearly double the number of card holders, than could be accommodated within it side by side, so that compactness results.

By mounting each card holder on pivot b, at or about the center of the holder, the latter is provided with two wings projecting from opposite sides of the pivot. The length of each win is less than the distance between two adjoining pivots, so that any one holder may be freely turned without disturbing the holders to the right or left thereof.

Each card holder is provided on its front with a room number 9, and when empty indicates that the room represented by such number is vacant. As soon as a room is rented, a card or slide f, is inserted into the I corresponding holder, thus indicating that the room is occupied. Each card should contain room number, name of guest, date of arrival, price of room, and other desirable information. This information is so distributed upon the cards that those items which are to be continually exposed, say name and room number, appear on the permanently uncovered sections of the cards, while such items which need be inspected but periodically, say date of arrival, price of room, etc, appear on the overlapped sections of the cards. Thus, when the rack is closed, it will, besides indicating whether the rooms are empty or occupied, also convey the information to be continually exposed, while the information to be but occasionally exposed, is concealed. In this way compactness is insured, and the inspection of the rack is facilitated. On the departure of a guest, or whenever otherwise necessary, the card holder overlapping the room-card under consideration, is swung outward, thus exposing the entire surface of such card and rendering available all the information imparted thereby. As soon as the room has been vacated its card is withdrawn from the rack and destroyed.

It is preferred to apply a number h, to the back of each holder 0, corresponding to the number g, of the card f, which is partly overlapped by such holder. Thus after the cards f, are inserted, their proper location in the rack may be checked by comparing their numbers with those on the overlapping the checking operation.

To facilitate the finding of the different card holders, the top rail of frame a, has represented thereon the hundreds of the room numbers, while the side rails have represented thereon the units and tens of such numbers. Thus by tracing the hundred of any room number downwards, and the tens or units sidewise, the holder will be located.

ith hotels having inside and outside rooms, a good plan is to arrange the even numbers, representing outside rooms, upon one side of the rack, while the odd numbers, representing inside rooms, are represented upon the other side. In this way the rack will also convey at a glance the information whether any room, empty or occupied, is an inside or an outside room.

It will be seen that my improved rack is compact, may be readily manipulated, and

holders, the latter being swung back during that the information imparted thereby may be quickly looked over.

I claim: 1. A hotel room rack comprising a frame, 5 a series of pivots journaled therein, and overlapping card holders mounted on the rivots and projecting beyond both sides thereof, substantially as specified.

2. A hotel room rack comprising a frame, 10 a series of pivots journaled therein, and card holders mounted on the pivots and projecting beyond both sides thereof, to form two wings, the length of each Wing being less than the distance between two adjoining pivots, substantially as specified.

Signed by me at New York city, (Manhattan,) N. Y., this fifth day of September, 1907.

FREDERICK MUSCHENHEIM.

l/Vitnesses:

E. J. CONLEY, W'. J. JoNEs. 

